Transcript

W. TIMOTHY COOMBS: Corporate apologiais probably the first real theory of crisis communication.[W. Timothy Coombs, Ph.D. Professorin the Nicholson School of Communication,University of Central Florida]And it came out of political communication.Because what would happen is when politicianswere in trouble and had to defend their character,they would then speak out.And apologia is a Greek term for self-defense.And what they did is early on some researchers-- George

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W. TIMOTHY COOMBS [continued]: Dionisopoulos and Steve Vibbert-- translated thatin for corporations saying, corporations have character.That character can come under attack.They need to defend their character.And they looked at the ways that they actuallydid defend their character.And that was the beginning of tryingto identify some strategies that corporations use when they'refaced with problems in a crisis.Crises threaten reputations.